Disappointment for Marquez and Aoyama in Argentina

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez enjoyed a strong start from pole position, tussling for first place on the opening lap with Lorenzo and Aleix Espargaro and took the lead as they crossed the line for the first time. He pushed to open a gap over the rest of the riders and by lap thirteen he was benefitting from his hard option rear Bridgestone tyre – the softer of the compounds available – and had opened up a 4.2s advantage over a chasing Valentino Rossi.

Teammate Hiroshi Aoyama dropped back at the start from 15th to 22nd on the first lap and gradually progressed through the pack to reach 14th by lap twenty-one. Meanwhile Rossi continued to chip away at Marc’s lead as Marc’s tyre life began to drop and Rossi’s extra hard tyre choice was coming into it’s element. With seven laps to go the gap was down to just two seconds and with three laps to go it was down to half a second as the riders began to battle. With two laps remaining, they jostled for first place then in the next corner they touched and as they picked the bikes up Rossi’s rear wheel collected Marc’s front and the reigning World Champion hit the ground. Despite running to his bike to rejoin the race, Marc soon saw this was not possible and had to accept his race was over.

In the final five laps, Hiroshi continued to fight and was up to 11th on the last lap when he was hit in the final turn by Petrucci and unfortunately crashed out of the race also. Race direction reviewed both incidents immediately and docked a penalty point from Petrucci but considered the contact between Marc and Rossi a racing incident.

It was a disappointing end to a strong weekend for the team. Now they must pack up and head to Spain for the first round of the European races which takes place on Sunday 3rd May.

Marc Marquez

DNFChampionship Standing: 5th - 36 points

"It’s a shame what happened, because we were having a good race! It was interesting, because our tyre choice was different from Valentino’s as I felt we were not as competitive the harder compound. The strategy was working out well for us – it’s just a pity about the last two laps. When I saw that he was closing in on me, I decided to conserve the tyres a little. On the final laps I went back to riding in the low 1'39s to check that the tyres were still in good shape, and knew that we would be fighting to the end. When he caught me, we fought for a few corners and unfortunately we touched and I crashed. I've always said that he's my idol and my reference, so you always learn things from him. Now we have to think about Jerez and begin to recover points."

Hiroshi Aoyama

DNFChampionship Standing: 17th - 5 points

"I didn’t get the best start as the start procedure seemed to happen very fast and caught me slightly off guard, so I didn’t get off the line immediately. I lost some positions and had many riders in front of me so I had to fight hard and managed to progress from 22nd position to 11th on the last lap. Unfortunately in the last corner on the final lap, Petrucci tried to pass me but he hit me forcing me to lose the front and I crashed. It was disappointing to end the race in this way. Also, with the incident involving Marc, it’s not been a good weekend for the Repsol Honda Team and I’m very sorry for all the team. Race control penalised Petrucci with a penalty point, so it’s good that they acknowledged the incident, but anyway it doesn’t affect our result."

MotoGP 2015Sunday, April 19th 2015

Race
Round 3
GP Red Bull de la Republica ArgentinaArgentina

Results Session

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Points

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

25

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

41'35.644

2

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

20

Ducati Team

Ducati

+5.685

3

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

16

CWM LCR Honda

Honda

+8.298

4

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

13

Ducati Team

Ducati

+8.352

5

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

11

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

+10.192

6

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

10

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

+19.876

7

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

9

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

+24.333

8

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

8

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

+27.670

9

Redding Scott

45

GBR

7

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

+34.397

10

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

6

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

+34.808

11

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

5

Pramac Racing

Ducati

+40.206

12

Miller Jack

43

AUS

4

LCR Honda

Honda

+42.654

13

Barbera Hector

8

SPA

3

Avintia Racing

Ducati

+42.729

14

Baz Loris

76

FRA

2

Athina Forward Racing

Forward Yamaha

+42.853

15

Bradl Stefan

6

GER

1

Athina Forward Racing

Forward Yamaha

+43.037

17

Laverty Eugene

50

IRE

0

Aspar Team

Honda

+43.400

18

Di Meglio Mike

63

FRA

0

Avintia Racing

Ducati

+43.808

19

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

0

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

+44.878

20

Melandri Marco

33

ITA

0

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

+56.236

21

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

0

AB Motoracing

Honda

+1'03.371

22

De Angelis Alex

15

RSM

0

E-Motion IodaRacing Team

ART

+1'08.444

23

Aoyama Hiroshi

7

JPN

0

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

DNF (1 lap)

24

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

0

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

DNF (2 laps)

25

Hernandez Yonny

68

COL

0

Pramac Racing

Ducati

DNF (19 laps)

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Gallery

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Location Information

The Termas de Río Hondo Circuit is located 6km from the city which gives the venue its name, in the Province of Santiago del Estero. It was built in a 150 hectare area and officially inaugurated on May 11, 2008, during the visit of Argentina´s Touring Car Racing championship. In… read more.

Location Information

The Termas de Río Hondo Circuit is located 6km from the city which gives the venue its name, in the Province of Santiago del Estero. It was built in a 150 hectare area and officially inaugurated on May 11, 2008, during the visit of Argentina´s Touring Car Racing championship. In… read more.